1 of 7 | A protester is arrested by two NYPD Police Officers in Union Square in New York City on July 9, 2016. Protesters marched again Saturday in cities across the nation united against police brutality after the killing of two African-American men by police this week. The protests came two days after a sniper killed five police officers during a demonstration in Dallas. Photo by John Angelillo/UPI |
License Photo
ST. PAUL, Minn., July 10 (UPI) -- Protesters were out en masse Saturday night across the country demonstrating against police violence toward African-Americans and the recent high-profile fatal shootings of Philando Castile, Alton Sterling and others.
The largest protest took place in Saint Paul, Minn., where 100 protesters were arrested Saturday night and five police officers were injured. Other demonstrations took place in Chicago, Atlanta, Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Baton Rouge, La., where several protesters were arrested, NBC News reported.
Among those taken in to custody in Baton Rouge was Black Lives Matter activist DeRay McKesson, New York Daily News reported, He was arrested after blocking Airline Highway while he live-streamed the protest.
Louisiana State Police seized eight guns.
The protests took place in the same week a gunman killed five police officers at a Black Lives Matter rally in Dallas. Police there were on lock-down Saturday searching for a suspect who called in a threat and sweeping the police headquarters parking garage with K-9. There was increased security across the city. No one has been arrested in connection to the threat, WFAA reported.
Many of those demonstrating Saturday remained peaceful, but in Saint Paul, some protesters pushed their way past state police and on to Interstate 84 where they scuffled with law enforcement, just miles from where Castile was shot by police, CNN reported.
Some blocked the freeway and threw bricks, fireworks and bottles at police. One was hit with a glass bottle and another with fireworks. A third officer was hit on the head with a large piece of concrete, police said.
Saint Paul police said they used smoke and "marking rounds" similar to paint balls against the aggressors.
Castile was killed July 6 during a traffic stop in a St. Paul suburb. Video showed his bloody body slumped over as an officer points his weapon at the man. Castile's girlfriend said he told the officer he had a concealed weapon permit and was carrying a gun. She said he was reaching for his wallet when the officer shot him.
Sterling was killed by police in July 5 in Baton Rouge after they responded to a call about someone with a gun. In a video, officers are seen wrestling Sterling to the ground, one shouting that he has a gun and another officer pulling out his weapon and shooting Sterling while he is pinned on the ground.
The U.S. Justice Department is overseeing a probe of that incident.
The New York attorney general is investigating another case in which a 37-year-old man was fatally shot by an off-duty police officer July 4.
In that case, a surveillance video shows Delrawn Small approaching Police Officer Wayne Isaacs' 2002 Nissan Altima in Brooklyn just after midnight July 4, the New York Daily News reported. .
After approaching the police car, Small is seen buckling over, then falling between two parked cars. Isaac gets out of his car and appears to tuck something in his waistband as he approaches Isaac.
